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| Headline |
Author |
Published |
Section |
The more the climate changes, the more they stay the same
U.K. Ministry of Defence: Global warming goes on, deniers are deluded |
Joseph Romm |
25 Sep 2008 |
Gristmill |
| The U.K.'s Met Office issued a blunt statement on Tuesday, 'Global warming goes on,' that begins: Anyone who thinks global warming has stopped has their head in the sand. The evidence is clear -- the long-term trend in global temperatures is rising, and humans are largely responsible for this rise. Global warming does not mean that each year will be warmer than the last, natural phenomena will mean that some years will be much warmer and others cooler. You only need to ... |
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| Topics: United Kingdom, severe weather, climate science, greenhouse-gas emissions, climate change impacts, climate (all these topics) |
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Barking up all the wrong trees
Oldest Utah newspaper: Bark-beetle driven wildfires comprise a vicious climate cycle |
Joseph Romm |
18 Sep 2008 |
Gristmill |
| Deseret News, owned by the Mormon Church and 'usually described as moderate to conservative' may have begun the slow march toward climate reality. A story this month titled, 'Bark beetles are feasting on Utah forests' begins: A vicious cycle is brewing in Utah: Bark beetles are killing a lot of trees in the state. Dead trees are fuel for wildfires, which experts say contributes to global warming. And climate change is now being blamed for an increased population of b ... |
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| Topics: climate change impacts, climate science, climate, severe weather, Utah (all these topics) |
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The quiet above the storm
Satellite images of Ike |
Kit Stolz |
15 Sep 2008 |
Gristmill |
| From Wundberblog: |
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| Topics: climate, climate science, severe weather (all these topics) |
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Kicking up a storm
Nature: Hurricanes are getting fiercer |
Joseph Romm |
05 Sep 2008 |
Gristmill |
| Nature has published a major analysis that supports my recent two-parter. As Nature explains: ... scientists have come up with the firmest evidence so far that global warming will significantly increase the intensity of the most extreme storms worldwide.The maximum wind speeds of the strongest tropical cyclones have increased significantly since 1981, according to research published in Nature this week. And the upward trend, thought to be driven by rising ocean tem ... |
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| Topics: climate, climate science, climate change impacts, severe weather, greenhouse-gas emissions (all these topics) |
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I'll Huff and I'll Puff ...
Warming seas make strong storms stronger, says new study |
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03 Sep 2008 |
News |
| Posted at 1:39 PM on 03 Sep 2008 As Gustav, Hanna, Ike, and Josephine become household names, more research has been added to the ongoing debate over the impact of climate change on hurricanes. A new study published in Nature indicates that warming seas have not increased the intensity of your everyday hurricane, but have made the mightiest storms even mightier. In essence, "if the seas continue to warm, w ... |
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| Topics: climate, climate change impacts, climate science, news, severe weather (all these topics) |
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Typhoon Marys and cyclone Janes
Why future Katrinas and Gustavs will be much worse, part 2 |
Joseph Romm |
03 Sep 2008 |
Gristmill |
| A lot of knee-jerk deniers (please don't write in -- I know that is redundant) misread 'part 1,' as I knew they would. I was not wading into the issue of whether global warming has already made intense tropical storms more common. That remains a great subject of debate, mostly because of the inadequacy of historical hurricane records, before the satellite era, and especially before WWII. That said, the North Atlantic seems special because much of the hurricane-formin ... |
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| Topics: severe weather, climate change impacts, climate science, climate (all these topics) |
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Stormy weather
Should environmentalists jump on climate disasters? |
Glenn Hurowitz |
03 Sep 2008 |
Gristmill |
| There's a heated debate going on about whether environmentalists should jump on breaking climate disasters like Gustav and frame them in terms of global warming and other environmental issues. Open Left's Matt Stoller and Center for American Progress's Joseph Romm say yes, and 'anonymous environmental leader' says no (all are must-reads). In my recent book, Fear and Courage in the Democratic Party, I wrote about some research that might shed light on this question (th ... |
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| Topics: politics, climate science, climate change impacts, severe weather, climate (all these topics) |
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Hurri-cane we stop these storms?
Why global warming means killer storms worse than Katrina and Gustav, part 1 |
Joseph Romm |
03 Sep 2008 |
Gristmill |
| Hurricanes can get much, much bigger and stronger than we have so far seen in the Atlantic. The most intense Pacific storm on record was Super Typhoon Tip in 1979, which reached maximum sustained winds of 190 mph near the center. On its wide rim, gale-force winds (39 mph) extended over a diameter of an astonishing 1,350 miles. It would have covered nearly half the continental United States. 'More than half the total hurricane damage in the U.S. (normalized for infla ... |
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| Topics: oceans, severe weather, climate change impacts, climate science, climate (all these topics) |
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Warning signs from Hurricane Gustav
How did so much water get into a New Orleans canal? |
John McQuaid |
03 Sep 2008 |
Gristmill |
| Here's a question I'd like to know the answer to. Hurricane Gustav dealt New Orleans a glancing blow, passing it by to the west. Yet as the world saw, the city's Industrial Canal -- a large ship channel running north-south close to neighborhoods -- filled nearly to the top, and there was some alarming, if mostly harmless, overtopping due to wind and waves. Why did this happen, and what does it say about the city's vulnerabilities in future storms -- and Louisiana's ... |
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| Topics: wetlands, Mississippi River, Louisiana, severe weather, climate, Army Corps of Engineers (all these topics) |
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Gustav, climate, drilling, McCain, Palin
Some enviros self-censor, but should progressives? |
Joseph Romm |
01 Sep 2008 |
Gristmill |
| A friend forwarded me an email titled "Gustav and Hannah" that was written to environmental activists by one of the top environmental leaders in this country. I am going to write on it at length because it is illustrative of the catastrophic messaging failure of the environmental community on issues of climate, government action, and energy. I strongly believe other progressives must not make the same mistakes. Here are key quotes from the email about ... |
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| Topics: climate, climate science, elections, John McCain, politics, presidential race 08, Sarah Palin, severe weather (all these topics) |
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The storm of the century (so far)
Will Gustav be the next Katrina? |
Joseph Romm |
29 Aug 2008 |
Gristmill |
| On August 23, 2005, a tropical depression formed 175 miles southeast of Nassau. By the next day, it had grown into tropical storm Katrina and was intensifying rapidly. Early in the evening on August 25, Hurricane Katrina made landfall near North Miami Beach. Even though it was only a Category 1 storm, with sustained wind speeds of about 80 miles-per-hour, it caused significant damage and flooding, and took 14 lives. The hurricane's quick nighttime trip across ... |
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| Topics: climate, climate change impacts, Louisiana, severe weather (all these topics) |
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Hurricane McCain
Major hurricane tracks to New Orleans on eve of Republican Convention? |
Joseph Romm |
27 Aug 2008 |
Gristmill |
| That subhead is lifted from Drudge. Needless to say, he left out ' ... and on the third anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, where both Bush and McCain were AWOL' (see TP's 'As Katrina hit, McCain celebrated 69th birthday with Bush'). Track the storm with the National Hurricane Center here. Best hurricane blog here. Readers of this blog know that my brother lost his home in Katrina three years ago, which is probably the main reason I began this blog in the firs ... |
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| Topics: climate, Louisiana, Republican National Convention, severe weather (all these topics) |
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On the Brink of Disaster
Report identifies areas where natural disasters could hit hardest |
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22 Aug 2008 |
News |
| Posted at 1:51 PM on 22 Aug 2008 Natural disasters made more severe by climate change will hit especially hard in regions with shaky political, economic, and security situations, says a new report from the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs and relief agency CARE International. Vulnerable areas include central Africa, the Horn of Africa, and the Sahel; Afghanistan, the Casp ... |
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| Topics: climate, climate change impacts, news, severe weather, United Nations (all these topics) |
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At Least Buy Us All Umbrellas
Science orgs plead for more funding for severe-weather preparation |
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21 Aug 2008 |
News |
| Posted at 8:30 AM on 21 Aug 2008 More floods, storms, and droughts are a-comin', and the U.S. lacks funding to predict and prepare for 'em, say eight scientific organizations. The groups, including the American Geophysical Union and American Meteorological Society, made a plea Wednesday for Congress and the next U.S. president to double the current budget for climate research and forecasting between ... |
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| Topics: climate, climate change adaptation, climate change impacts, climate science, news, severe weather (all these topics) |
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Climate forecast: Hot and then even hotter
NOAA says July 08 was fifth warmest on record |
Joseph Romm |
18 Aug 2008 |
Gristmill |
| I know we're supposed to be going into a period of cooling, at least according to people who don't believe in the scientific method. For those who do however, NOAA's National Climatic Data Center reports in its 'Climate of 2008 July in Historical Perspective': Based on preliminary data, the globally averaged combined land and sea surface temperature was the fifth warmest on record for July and the ninth warmest for the January-July year-to-date period. It is worth ... |
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| Topics: climate, climate change impacts, climate science, severe weather (all these topics) |
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It's raining tigers and wolves
Science: Extreme rains supercharged by warming |
Joseph Romm |
10 Aug 2008 |
Gristmill |
| Science has just published, 'Atmospheric Warming and the Amplification of Precipitation Extremes' ($ub. req'd). It concludes: Here, we use satellite observations and model simulations to examine the response of tropical precipitation events to naturally driven changes in surface temperature and atmospheric moisture content.These observations reveal a distinct link between rainfall extremes and temperature, with heavy rain events increasing during warm periods and dec ... |
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| Topics: climate, climate change impacts, climate science, severe weather (all these topics) |
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When It Rains, It Pours
Climate change will increase extreme rainfall, says study |
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08 Aug 2008 |
News |
| Posted at 12:21 PM on 08 Aug 2008 Photo: Ali Nishan Climate change will likely lead to more powerful rainstorms, says a new study published in Science. Computer models may "substantially" underestimate the number of heavy rainfalls that will occur in a warming world, say scientists who researched naturally occurring weather events during El Niņo patterns between 1987 and 2004. "A warmer atmosphere co ... |
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| Topics: climate, climate change impacts, news, scientific research, severe weather (all these topics) |
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A harbinger of denial
The Washington Post's Joel Achenbach doesn't understand basic climate science |
Joseph Romm |
04 Aug 2008 |
Gristmill |
| Repeat after me, Joel: 'Global warming makes the weather more extreme.' If even the Bush administration accepts that basic fact of climate science, shouldn't you? I used to like Achenbach's cutesy science pieces, but his knowledge of climate science is about one or two decades old, as evidenced by his major story in The Washington Post, 'Global Warming Did It! Well, Maybe Not.' It is a typically uninformed journalistic 'backlash' piece whereby a reporter creates a ... |
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| Topics: climate, climate change impacts, climate science, severe weather (all these topics) |
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Hot, hot heat
By century's end we can expect extremely high surface temperatures |
Joseph Romm |
31 Jul 2008 |
Gristmill |
| Sure glacier melt, sea level rise, extreme drought, and species loss get all the media attention -- they are the Britney Spears, Paris Hilton, and Barack Obama of climate impacts. But what about good old-fashioned sweltering heat? How bad will that be? Two little-noticed studies -- one new, one old -- spell out the grim news. Bottom line: By century's end, extreme temperatures of up to 122°F would threaten most of the central, southern, and western U.S. Even ... |
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| Topics: climate, climate change impacts, climate science, severe weather (all these topics) |
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Stormy weather
NewScientist cover story looks at link between tornadoes and global warming |
Holly Richmond |
30 Jul 2008 |
Gristmill |
| With a cover that makes Twister look like a heartwarming inspirational flick, the August 2 issue of NewScientist asks if global warming is to blame for the flurry of tornadoes earlier this year. Chris Mooney, author of Storm World: Hurricanes, Politics, and the Battle Over Global Warming, reports that 148 tornadoes hit the U.S. in February of this year, twice as many as the previous record-holding February (in 1971), and that May of this year saw a whopping 595 tornad ... |
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| Topics: climate, climate change impacts, magazines, severe weather (all these topics) |
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Our national water policy
Oh, wait, we don't have a national water policy |
Guest author |
22 Jul 2008 |
Gristmill |
| This is a guest essay from Elizabeth de la Vega, author of United States v. George W. Bush et al. It was originally published on TomDispatch and is republished here with Tom's kind permission. --- 'Lisa, the whole reason we have elected officials is so we don't have to think all the time. Just like that rainforest scare a few years back. Our officials saw there was a problem and they fixed it, didn't they?' -- Homer Simpson On June 24, 2008, Louie and I curled ... |
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| Topics: climate, severe weather, water conflicts, water crisis (all these topics) |
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Uganda Drink That?
Ugandan coffee endangered by climate change |
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17 Jul 2008 |
News |
| Posted at 3:52 PM on 17 Jul 2008 Uganda's coffee industry could be basically kaput in 30 years, according to a new Oxfam report. Uganda is Africa's second-largest coffee exporter after Ethiopia, but the report direly predicts that if "average global temperatures rise by two degrees or more, then most of Uganda is likely to cease to be suitable for coffee." In the last two decades, inconsistent weather has reduced crop yiel ... |
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| Topics: agriculture, climate, climate change impacts, food, news, severe weather, Uganda (all these topics) |
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Model behavior
Global warming will worsen storms, says U of Michigan scientist |
JMG |
11 Jul 2008 |
Gristmill |
| From ScientificBlogging: Mathematical Model Says Climate Change Will Make Storms WorseA new mathematical model developed by University of Michigan atmospheric and planetary scientist Nilton Renno says that dust devils, water spouts, tornadoes, hurricanes, and cyclones are all born of the same mechanism and will intensify as climate change warms the Earth's surface.Renno hopes the new equation will allow scientists to more accurately calculate the maximum expected intensity ... |
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| Topics: climate, climate change impacts, scientific research, severe weather (all these topics) |
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Climate change imperils July Fourth (again)
Drought conditions in West and Southwest inspire new fireworks bans |
Joseph Romm |
03 Jul 2008 |
Gristmill |
| Global warming threatens our White Chistmases with winter heatwaves. And our Halloweens with poor pumpkin crops. And our Arbor Days with record wildfires. And our immoral myopia threatens Father's Day. At this rate, the only holiday left will be the gas tax holiday -- for oil companies! But I digress. Last year, Independence Day fireworks fizzled out for many thanks to ever worsening droughts. And MSNBC reports the droughts have done it again this year: Autho ... |
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| Topics: climate, climate change impacts, holiday, severe weather (all these topics) |
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Sorry, delayers and enablers, part two
Climate change means worse droughts for American Southwest, Australia |
Joseph Romm |
25 Jun 2008 |
Gristmill |
| Part one presented the synopsis of the remarkable new U.S. Climate Change Science Program (a.k.a. the Bush Administration) report, Weather and Climate Extremes in a Changing Climate. One central point in the synopsis is Droughts are becoming more severe in some regions, though there are no clear trends for North America as a whole ... Substantial areas of North America are likely to have more frequent droughts of greater severity. Seems pretty clear, no? Dry a ... |
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| Topics: climate science, climate change impacts, severe weather, climate (all these topics) |
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